First Criminal Case of Cryptocurrency Theft Sent to Court in Armenia

The investigation into a significant case of computer theft involving over 88 million AMD has been completed, initiated by the National Security Service’s investigative department and subsequently transferred to the Investigative Committee. According to reports from the RA Investigative Committee, on April 25, 2023, a resident of Yerevan, identified as O.K., filed a complaint claiming that 129 Ethereum, valued at $236,000, had been stolen from his cryptocurrency wallet under unknown circumstances.

The investigation revealed that this theft was committed by a 36-year-old resident of Yerevan, who, as a programmer by profession, illegally accessed O.K.’s cryptocurrency wallet on March 19, 2023, and transferred 129 Ethereum, equivalent to 88,303,352 AMD, to his own crypto wallet.

To cash out the assets, on March 19 and June 25, 2023, the suspect transferred 9 and 20 Ethereum, respectively, to a crypto wallet opened in his name belonging to an American company. He subsequently converted parts of the transferred Ethereum into DASH and XRP cryptocurrencies and withdrew them from his account. The converted XRP was transferred through three transactions to his crypto wallet opened under the name of a company called “Finance,” and from there to various foreign as well as local accounts.

The 36-year-old resident of Yerevan has been charged under part 3, point 3 of Article 257 of the RA Criminal Code. He was initially remanded in custody, which was later replaced with house arrest for a period of two months and also a 15 million AMD bail.

During the investigation, the accused fully reimbursed the damages caused. The investigation has concluded and the case materials have been sent to the supervising prosecutor for approval and subsequent transfer to the court. This is the first criminal proceeding related to cryptocurrency theft to be sent to court in Armenia.